Sapphire Frieza: A Dragon Ball Z Fan Fiction
by crazywriter662
Summary: Years have passed since the Z Fighters have defeated Cell and all is well. That is . . . until Goku comes back alive and a strange figure that looks eerily like Lord Frieza. Her name is Mari, and her involvement will rock their world to the core. DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Ball Z and the credit goes to Akira Toriyama. (Plus, this is a work in progress, so bear with me!)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Hidden Enemies and Allies

"Who's there?" I called out. I wasn't afraid. I knew that there were people watching me in this dark forest, and I was trying to taunt them and force them to come out.

The forest was suddenly silent, and then a loud _snap_ echoed around the forest. Someone had broken a branch or stepped on a twig. Most likely, it was the latter.

"Thanks for blowing our cover, Krillin," a voice hissed from my left.

"It's not my fault!" the one called Krillin hissed back. From the tree I leaned on, I smiled. Their cover is blown, and they know it.

I chuckled at their misfortune and yelled, "Your cover's blown, so come out! I know you're in there! There's no use in hiding!"

Branches parted over to my left, and six, no seven figures appeared. They varied in size, but I could tell they're powerful. All of them had power levels over 39000, and a few have levels over 62000. Man, they're powerful. But I can't trust just that alone. They most likely can raise and lower their power levels at will.

"What are you?" one of the tall ones asked. The moon glinted off his skin in an odd way. I looked straight into his charcoal eyes, and it hit me that he was a Namekian. What would a Namekian be doing here on Earth?

"Usually, you greet someone by asking, 'who are you,' or 'what's your name.'" My voice was light and it seemed as if I was going to break out in laughter at any moment. I hated my accent at times like these; I could make even the worst announcements sound like a joke.

The Namekian took a step a closer. "We don't care about being polite. Tell me: _what are you?"_

"Piccolo," another voice snapped. "Calm it down, okay?"

_That's the mighty Piccolo?_ I thought. "First off, I'm not an Android."

Piccolo snorted in disbelief and crossed his muscular arms across his chest. "Yeah, right."

I smiled a cool, deadly smile. "Don't believe me? I'll show you, then." I fished a small silver dagger out of my jeans pocket. I made sure that it caught the light of the moon and then I brought it down on my upturned palm. I dragged it though the soft skin of my palm, bright red blood appearing out of the wound on my hand. I pulled the dagger away from my bleeding palm and showed them it. A few scarlet drops splattered onto the leaf-covered ground.

"See, I'm not an Android. Androids don't bleed." I enunciate each word with controlled malice.

Someone in the crowd shifted. I caught a glimpse of silver hair and bright blue eyes. _Is that . . . No, it can't be . . ._ His face looked familiar. I swore I've seen him once on a grainy surveillance video from one of my father's many ships.

I suddenly noticed the dead silence. No one has moved an inch. I decided to use this silence to my advantage. "So, why did you follow me out here in the woods?" I asked, spreading my hands out in a questioning gesture.

"We felt a huge power source coming from the woods, so we decided to investigate," one of them explained. It sounded like the one they called Krillin.

I chuckled. "So you decided to just waltz into the woods and find whatever power source you felt earlier?" Were they that dumb?

One of the smaller figures shrugged. "Pretty much."

"That's quite ignorant of you. What if it had just been an animal or a lost hiker? Wouldn't you feel stupid?"

A different voice answered this time. "The energy felt . . . familiar." This voice was quiet, much like a patient mentor.

_Familiar energy?_ That was interesting. "Tell me, whose energy did it feel like?"

They were silent for a moment, and then someone replied, "Frieza."

The corners of my mouth turned up into a small smile. "Ah, Frieza. He was so hot-headed and rash . . ." My sentence drifted off.

"I have a question. Why was your energy like Frieza's?" This voice was younger than the rest.

"Good question. The reason is because Frieza and I are of the same blood."

Almost everyone gasped. "S-so you're related to F-Frieza?" Krillin spluttered.

I nodded once. "Yes, Frieza and I are related." _Jeez, why do earthlings have to be so stupid? _

The next question changed the subject. "Why are you here in the middle of the woods?" It was the same person that told Piccolo to lay off.

"My ship ran out of fuel, and I landed here, knowing that there'd be fuel somewhere nearby," I replied.

"How do you know there's fuel on Earth?" The voice had a rich quality to it that no earthling could ever dream of achieving. It suddenly clicked in my head. He's Saiyan!

"I've been here a few times."

I didn't think the Saiyan was buying it. "Uh huh . . ." But who could that Saiyan be? Nappa? Raditz? Vegeta? No, no it couldn't be Nappa or Raditz; they were both long dead. He sounded like Raditz, but the voice wasn't as raspy as Raditz's. Or . . . could it be that Saiyan that slipped under Frieza's radar all those years ago? Could it be Raditz's younger brother, Kakarot?

This time, I took the opportunity to change the subject. "I've told you a bit about me, so why don't you tell about yourselves?"

They started rambling off names: Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, Gohan, Trunks, and Goku. I counted the numbers in my head. Six names, seven figures. That's not right. "I know there are seven of you. Who's hiding?"

The last voice had the deep, rich tone of a Saiyan. "Vegeta." Vegeta?! Why was he here? The other names clicked in my head. Goku, Krillin, Gohan, it all made sense now.

I smiled. "It is a great honor to be in the presence of the mighty Prince Vegeta." My tone became mocking. "And, my, I've heard a lot about you, Goku."

"Like what?" he asked.

"That you are the Super Saiyan of legend—pure of heart and awakened by rage."

"Well . . . I don't know about that. Other Saiyans have achieved Super Saiyan form as well."

My eyes widened in mock surprise. _Of course_ I knew that Goku wasn't the only Saiyan to reach Super Saiyan form. Gossip traveled quite fast in the universe. "Oh, really? I know that achieving Super Saiyan form is rare, and when the Saiyans were many, less than one percent of the Saiyans in the whole universe had achieved it. The last time I checked, the most Saiyans in our universe at one time was about five million, so there were about . . . hmmmm . . . three Super Saiyans, I believe."

"Wow, I never knew that Super Saiyans were _that_ rare," Trunks whispered.

I smiled and brushed a strand of sapphire-blue hair out of my face. "It's true."

"What's your name?" Tien asked. He sounded curious.

"For your information, my name is Mari." One of them—Vegeta, I believe—stiffened. Of course he would know my name.

We lapsed into silence once again. If they would attack, now would be the best time to strike. I registered that the dagger was still in my hand, my blood dry on its tip. It seemed to pulse, saying: _oh, by the way, I'm still here, and I'm really sharp._

Suddenly, they attacked. Four of the figures flipped into Super Saiyan form. Their hair turned gold, their pupils disappeared, and the irises turned turquoise. A golden halo of semi-transparent flames surrounded each Saiyan. The others moved away, knowing that a Saiyan can be almost impossible to control in Super Saiyan form.

"So, that's how you want to play?" I taunted. The first one to come at me is Tien. He aimed a few punches to my face, but I dodged them by ducking my head and moving to the side. He then tried to knee me in the gut, but I dodged that too. A few punches and kicks later, he wasn't even scratching me. My left hand rose above my head, and a mass of energy formed around my fingertips, creating a sharp point over each finger. After a moment's hesitation, my hand came down hard on Tien's face. It dug through his flesh, and his eyes, even the third one on his forehead, widened. I pulled my hand away and Tien stumbled back, his hand covering the bleeding wound. He was done fighting.

I smiled smugly. "Who's next?"

The Namekian, Piccolo, ran towards me, a snarl on his face. He rapidly tried to punch my face, but to no avail. This continued for a minute or two, and then he shot a ball of snow-white energy from his palm. I blocked it by planting my feet, crouching down, and crossing my arms over my head and chest in an X pattern. The blast hit me full on, but I managed to keep my position. After the dust settled, I stood up straight and laughed.

"Is that the best you got?" I asked.

"Barely," he growled. He attacked again. And again. And again. I kept dodging and blocking all of his attacks. I waited for the right moment, and then, _BAM_! I punched Piccolo in the gut, and he crumpled instantly. He was unconscious, and won't be waking up for a while.

"Piccolo, no!" Gohan cried. He and Krillin were the next ones to face me. It's two on one, but I could handle them, even if Gohan was a level above Super Saiyan _and_ brought Cell down to his knees. They came at me in sync, alternating between hand-to-hand combat and energy blasts. They put up a pretty good fight, but they were no match for me. This fight ended quicker than the others, ending in me kicking Gohan in the jaw, and punching Krillin in the chest. Both flew backwards and Krillin just happened to come in contact with a tree.

"Four down, three to go," I taunted. "Who's gonna face me next?"

Trunks took a step forward, eager to take me on. But, hey, he's a Super Saiyan. Super Saiyans love battle. It's the air they breathe. He came at me with a punch to the face. I dodged it and remembered that I had pocketed my dagger as soon as the battle began.

"Where's your sword?" I asked. "It took down Frieza, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it did," he replied, "but it broke after the first battle with Android 17." We circled each other, waiting for the other to make a move.

"Oh . . . that's interesting. Saiyan metal is supposed to repair itself when in contact with air." Slowly but surely, I grabbed my dagger.

His eyes widened and he stopped and stared at me. "Really?"

I nodded. "Really." And then I attacked. I advanced on Trunks and pushed the dagger deep into his shoulder. It wouldn't kill him, but it would hurt a lot, maybe crack a bone or two, and leave a very ugly scar.

Trunks looked up at me with wide blue eyes. I kept my face cold. He was one of the last of his kind . . . but he killed Frieza. I knew it in that moment. He was the one that cut Frieza into tiny little pieces and then decided to blow him up. In my mind, that's just not forgivable.

"Be thankful I didn't do anything worse that stabbing you with that dagger," I spat, and then looked up at Vegeta and Goku. "Who's my next victim?"

Vegeta sauntered forward. "Just like old times?" he taunted.

I leered at him. "Yup. Just like the good ol' days." Our fists met, and the forest rippled around us. We exchanged multiple punches, and Vegeta managed to punch me in the chest. The air rushed out of me, and I stumbled back, clutching my sides.

"Just because we were friends all those years ago doesn't mean I'll go easy on you," he said.

I stood up straight and blasted Vegeta in the chest. I made sure that it was a harmful but not deadly blow. Vegeta's armor cracked and he crumpled to the ground. The Super Saiyan essence bled out of him, and his hair turned back into the regular black.

"You're next," I spat at Goku. "You make the first move. Or, as Frieza liked to put it, 'the ball is in your court.'"

Goku didn't say anything. Instead, he came at me, a feral snarl on his face. I dodged most of his punches, but he did manage to hit me hard a few times.

"What's your special move?" I taunted. "Are you going to create a Sprit Bomb?"

Goku shook his head. "Not even close." He crouched down, connected the heels of his palms together, pushed them behind him, and started saying, "Ka . . . Me . . . Ha . . . Me . . . HA!"

A golden beam of energy shot towards me. I crouched down and put my hands in front of me, making a shield with my hands. When the energy finally hit me, I planted my feet and made sure there were no cracks between my fingers. The energy beam split off into two, one on my right and one on my left. The two energy beams massacred trees, and set them on fire.

Goku looked very shocked. "Wha—what was that?"

I shrugged. "I diverged your Kamehameha."

Now, the look in Goku's eyes was dead serious. Menacing even. With the fiery background, he looked deadly. I knew now what Frieza must've felt as he watched the Super Saiyan on dying Namek. Pure horror . . . and awe.

"I let Frieza go, but I'm not letting you get away," Goku said, taking a step closer.

I took a step back. "You shouldn't judge people just by who they are related to. Your friends could have abandoned you when they found out you were Saiyan, but they didn't. You can trust—"

"I don't _care_. You are related to Frieza, and you have to be taken care of." I shrunk down. He was serious. Dead serious.

"Please! I'm a good person, really. So what if I'm related to Frieza?!" My voice rose to a pleading cry. I was scared out of my wits. The 'Saiyan who showed mercy' wasn't planning to show mercy to me. Not even close.

He took a step closer, and one of his hands grasped my neck. He squeezed hard, and all of the air in my lungs rushed out. I was unable to take a breath in, and it made me panic even more.

"Please, I'm begging you!" I whimpered. Hot tears streamed down my face.

Goku smiled, but it isn't friendly. "Frieza said the exact same thing, and I gave him some of my surplus energy, and what did he do? He tried to blast me. Well, I'm not going to give you _anything_."

"Stop! Please!" The world around me blurred, and I knew I was losing consciousness. I needed to stay awake. My life depended on it. In a blood rage, the Saiyan could easily kill me if I was unconscious.

"Don't you have some little trick that could get you out of there?" Goku taunted. "Can you do Instant Transmission like me?"

I wanted to make a snide comment, but I had little air left. My eyes started to roll up inside my head and the tip of my tail started to thrash uncontrollably.

"_Danas irs Segu tana shuta nith." May Segu guide my spirit safely to the shadows._ It was a prayer to the warrior-goddess Segu. I prayed she heard me before it was too late.

I blacked out, but a second before, a voice growled, "Kackarot, _drop her_."

For some odd reason, I dreamt of my father.

_My mother is preparing _shatik,_ a stew-like dish usually made when a member of the family comes home from war. But who could have come home? Could it be one of my sisters' mates, a cousin, an uncle, or a brother?_

_"Who came home today?" I ask in my native tongue. _

_Mother smiles widely. "Your father."_

_I blink a few times. "What?"_

_"I said, you father is home from war."_

_This doesn't make sense. My father has been dead for over eight years now. "But how?" I am seriously confused._

_"It doesn't matter how. The thing is that I'm home," a voice says for the doorway. I look back and see my father leaning against the doorway, a few new medals pinned against his armor. He is in his "normal" form, with no horns. I'm surprised he's in his normal form, because he is usually in his "warrior" form._

_I step forward and hug him hard. "It's good to see you home, Father."_

_He pats me on the back. "It's good to see you too, _rantiz,"_ he says, using the native word for beloved one._

_I step back and wipe at my face. Hot tears of joy and relief stream down my face in tiny rivers. "It's just great to have you home, Dad."_

_Mother makes motions with a spoon for us to sit down at the table. We sit down, and the smell of the_ shatik _is absolutely amazing. "Well, start eating. I didn't make this so we can just stare at it." My mother glances at my father with a critical eye. "They haven't been feeding you enough, have they?" I notice how his armor hangs off his emaciated body like the shell of some giant insect. _

_"Dvugna, it's fine. They feed us enough."_

_I smile. "So, how has it been on the warfront?"_

_"Pretty good. We secured another five planets."_

_"Five?! Which ones?"_

_"Well, it was quite the adventure . . ."_

My dream started to blur at the edges, and soon enough, I was awake. The first thing that came to my mind was: where am I?

I opened my eyes wide. The first thing I noticed was the bright sunlight streaming down through a window to my left. There was a desk to my right, a dresser next to it, a bookcase next to the window, and the door was right in front of me.

I shifted, and noticed that I was under covers. I sat up, and my aching muscles screamed in protest. _How long was I out?_ I thought. It must've been more than three hours, because I usually wake up sore and achy when I oversleep. And for you uneducated earthlings, my kind only has to sleep for a few hours. It's a defense mechanism, I think.

I stood up and stretched. Yup, I've been asleep for too long. From what I could tell, it was about noon. I really _was_ asleep for too long.

Suddenly, a noise made me tense. I listened for it again, and soon enough, it happened again. I paused, and then thought, _oh, duh, it's someone laughing_. See, that's why I didn't like sleeping more than I had to. My brain tended to work five times slower, and I was taught to be on alert at all times, even if I'm at a place I know.

But this, this wasn't a place I knew. I heard the laughing yet again and crept towards the door. I put my ear to it, and with my heightened sense of sound, I picked up on a conversation.

"Yeah, it was so crazy. Mari is an amazing fighter. I didn't even scratch her." It was Tien's voice.

The other voice laughed. "Well, I can _she_ scratched _you_."

Tien and the other person laughed. "Yeah, I know. Dende healed the wound, but the scar is permanent."

Who's Dende? The name didn't seem familiar, but it sounded Namekian. "Buddy, you're more scarred than me now. Congratulations." The second voice was dripping in joking sarcasm.

"Thanks, Yamcha."

Tien and Yamcha laughed again. I got the feeling that they've been friends for many years. "But don't you think it's kinda odd that Goku comes back alive and then all of a sudden Mari shows up in the middle of the woods? I don't think it's a coincidence."

I imagined Yamcha shrugging. "Who knows?"

A third voice entered the conversation. "Boys, what are you doing now?" The voice was female, and it comforted me a bit. It felt good that I wasn't the only girl here. Because when you're surrounded by males twenty-four/seven, it gets very annoying very quickly.

"Oh, ah, just talking," Yamcha replied quickly. I caught something under his tone. Had they been lovers in the past?

The woman wasn't buying it at all. "Uh huh, yeah . . ."

"I still can't believe that Vegeta had to stop Goku from killing Mari. It's usually the other way around. Goku usually has to tell Vegeta to stop." Oh, so Vegeta saved me? I wasn't going to let him live that down, not in a million years.

"Yeah," Yamcha said.

"And when we brought Mari here, Vegeta was acting really strange."

"What do you mean by 'acting strange'?" the woman asked.

"Well . . ." Tien paused. "He was being quiet—"

Yamcha snorted. "He's _always_ quiet."

"And he kept glancing at Mari as if he'd seen her before, and would randomly smile and laugh at nothing."

"Wait, didn't you say that when Mari and Vegeta were fighting, they mentioned stuff about the past?" Yamcha asked.

"Yeah. I think that they were friends in the past."

"Well, that wouldn't surprise me. Vegeta was once part of Frieza's army, remember?"

"True, true. But the creepier thing that Mari looks like Frieza. She said she was related to him, too. I don't know if we can trust her. Cruelty could run in the family." From behind the door, I tensed even more, and my hands balled up into fists. Of course they made assumptions. Pretty much everyone does.

"Okay, okay, let's stop picking on Mari and Vegeta," the woman interrupted, cutting their conversation short. I imagined the woman glancing towards where I was. "Mari looks like she's been through a lot. She seems young, but her eyes show a very different story. They show years and years of pain and trial and hurt. And remember, Vegeta's been through a lot, too. I don't think it was fun when he found out the man he was serving under had destroyed his planet and wiped out his kind."

Yamcha snorted again. "I don't count Frieza as a man. More like a blood-thirsty monster."

From farther away, a door opened and closed. I heard a few footsteps and the soft _whoosh_ of the wind. "Hey, guys!" Yamcha called out.

"Hey, Yamcha," a voice said. I thought back to the confrontation in the woods, and realized it was the small one with no nose and the marks on his forehead—Krillin.

"So, how's the thing?" someone asked. It was Goku. He said 'thing' like I was some science experiment gone horribly wrong. Jeez, I'm not _that_ bad.

"She's recovering," the woman replied. "Has anyone seen Vegeta?"

"Nope," Krillin replied. "He flew off after we dropped Mari off, and we haven't seen him since."

"Oh . . ." the woman murmured, her sentence fading away. For some reason, she seemed really concerned about Vegeta. Why was that?

Then it hit me. A rumor had spread many, many years ago that Vegeta had a son with a human woman. No one really knew for sure if it was true or not. But in that moment, I know it was true. But who? Who is Vegeta's son?

Oh, duh.

It's _Trunks_.

I _had_ noticed that Vegeta and Trunks had looked somewhat familiar, but I hadn't put two and two together, mainly because I was preoccupied (a.k.a fighting).

"Hey, don't you think someone should check on Mari?" Gohan suggested. Add in some food, a flat screen TV, football, and we'd have a tailgate. Isn't that great?

Everyone paused. After a few moments silence, the woman said, "I'll do it."

I heard footsteps heading towards my room. I moved away from the door and walked towards the bed. I sat on the edge, making sure that I could get out in a hurry. Like my old mentor said: "If you're in an unknown place, find the nearest exit, wait, and if nothing happens in five minutes, get the hell out of there."

A small woman with light blue hair poked her head through the door. I stared at her and after a moment, I realized that her hair grew out of her scalp in that shade. "Ah, hi, Mari," she said.

I nodded. "Hi."

The woman shifted nervously. "Just to tell you, we have food in the kitchen."

I suddenly noticed that I was super hungry, and I smiled. "That sounds really good." My smile was genuine.

The woman walked out, and I followed her. "Oh, by the way, my name is Bulma," she added after a moment.

I smiled. "It's nice to meet you." We kept walking down a long hallway painted a pale green. It reminded me of one of my friends back home, and a stab of pain hit my heart.

"I just hope they're not too hostile to you," Bulma said, and I wasn't sure if she was talking to herself or me.

"Trust me, I think I can handle them. I've dealt with angry Saiyans before." I bit my lip to hold back a chuckle. Saiyans had very short fuses, and it obviously showed.

"I just don't get it," Bulma said as we turned a corner.

"Don't get what?"

She sighed. "I've never seen Goku so angry. He was so mad he was shaking. I didn't know what to do, and I felt really scared."

I smiled and put a comforting hand on Bulma's shoulder. "I was scared too. A Super Saiyan in a blood rage is _not_ a laughing matter."

Bulma frowned, confused. "Blood rage? What's that?"

"Well . . ." I bit my lip. "There are two kinds. The first is when you find out someone close to you has died, and you're so upset that you go into a sort of blind rage where instinct overpowers common sense. This is usually the kind that creates Super Saiyans."

"And what's the other one?"

"The second is the one that Goku experienced. Usually, it happens when someone you meet is related or knows a person that you know who is cruel and ruthless. I'm related to Frieza, so Goku just assumed that I was like him." I stuffed my hands in the pocket of my jeans, and I was glad that I was still wearing them. They were a bit burned and singed in places, but it wasn't that bad. I was still wearing the black v-neck tank top I had been wearing when I landed, and it was singed as well but it covered what needed to be covered.

We then entered the kitchen. It was very big, and I noticed that everyone was staring at me. I recognized everyone from the woods, but one person that I didn't. He was tall, lean, and had spiky black hair. A few scars ran down his face, including one that crossed right through his left eye.

_Hey, that's just like Uncle Cooler's scar_, I thought with a chuckle.

Everyone stared at me as if I was supposed to a trick or something. Yup, that's me. Freak show Mari.

Bulma was the one to break the silence. "Come on, guys. Mari has just been through a lot." She held up a bag, and handed me something wrapped in paper. I opened it, and found out it was a chicken sandwich. I took a hesitant bite of it. It tasted really over-processed, but food is food. It wasn't my mother's _shatik_, but it was good enough to actually stay in my stomach.

"Hey, we're really sorry about what happened—" Krillin suddenly blurted out.

I held up a hand to stop him. "No, no, it's fine."

Krillin tried again to apologize. "No, I'm serious—"

I cut him off rudely. "If this is one of those I-really-shouldn't-punch-a-girl things, just don't say anything." It was supposed to be a joke, but I could tell he took it to heart. I suddenly felt really embarrassed and ashamed. I probably looked like a really mean person to them now. If only Vegeta were here, he'd understand . . .

"Hey, where's Vegeta?" I asked, playing dumb.

Tien shrugged. "We haven't seen him since we dropped you off here."

That sucked. But . . . maybe if I got my laptop from my ship, I could log onto the army's database, find Vegeta and maybe convince him to come here. But there was only one problem: I needed to get to my ship.

"Hey, I, ah, need to get some things from my ship, so can I go get them?" I asked. I wasn't really sure who I was talking to.

Pretty much everyone shrugged and murmured "sure," except for Goku. He just stared at me with a look of pure hatred and loathing. If Vegeta were here, I'd remind him of the 'Saiyan death stare.' And that's what Goku was doing to me. I have to admit, Saiyans can do really good death stares.

I started to move towards the door. No one tried to stop me, so I pelted out the door like I had seen a ghost. The others followed me out and watched in amazement as I took off into the air. After a few moments, I turned invisible. From the ground, the others were very confused. I had just vanished into thin air without warning.

I laughed. "Idiots."

I veered towards the woods, and headed towards my ship. After a minute or two, I finally found it and landed in the clearing. I opened the door and headed in. It's was medium-sized ship, not too big and not too small. It was an A661 Delta Speeder. Oh, right, I forgot you earthlings don't really know about different types of galactic ships. Let's just say it was about the size of a large tank. Is that better now? Do you humans with puny brains understand?

"What should I bring?" I muttered to myself. I tended to do that a lot when I'm alone. I decided on bringing clothes, my drawing pad and pencils, my laptop, my iPod, my camera, a few home-grown _zhungensi_ fruits and a bottle of _izumika_ (for when times get tough), and a few other things. I also took the time to put some new clothes on and fix my hair. I put on a new pair of jeans and an Evanescence concert t-shirt that had been slightly ripped when the Ginyu Force and I ran into a bear while we were doing reconnaissance here on Earth. Just don't ask; it's a very long story, and I don't want to bore you with the details.

My hair was another problem altogether. I hadn't really been paying attention to it lately, and it showed. It was all ratty and disgusting and had bits of things in it. Gross. I just brushed it out and put it into a loose braid. If I had time, I would do something more elaborate, but time was of the essence.

I sealed up the ship and headed back towards Bulma's house. I decided to not turn invisible but instead I flew very high in the sky so that the humans won't notice me. When I got to Bulma's house, I dropped down on the front lawn. I stuck the landing, and I was surprised because I tended to fall when I land.

The door was closed, so I hesitantly knocked on the door. The bag at my side suddenly became twenty pounds heavier and it seemed to say: _I carry most of what you hold dear, and you want to show it to _them_?!_

I knocked again, this time louder. Krillin opened the door. "Hey, Mari," he said in greeting.

"Hi," I said. He led me into the main area where mostly everyone was sitting down and relaxing.

"Hey guys, Mari's back," Krillin announced. Everyone looked straight at me, even Goku. He was pacing irritably in the background. I had the feeling he'd been ranting about me while I was gone.

I sat down and pulled out my laptop. I turned it on and waited for it to warm up. The stupid thing was always being a pain and as slow as a sloth. I was due for another one, but it refused to die.

"Wait, is that a SkyBook?" Bulma asked.

I nodded. "Yup."

"Wow," she murmured. "Those things are rare. There's only ten in existence."

I smiled. "Yes, there is on Earth. But the SkyBook is all the rage in the universe." The laptop was finally on, and I clicked on the 'Army Database' icon. After a few seconds, the login screen popped up and I typed in the encrypted password. The system said my password was valid, and the lists started to appear. I started scrolling down them, looking for any active ones. Everyone stared at me expectantly.

"Okay, I should probably give you a brief history before I show you this," I explained. "About twenty or so years ago, Lord Frieza decided that he needed to keep track of his massive army. At that time, it numbered in the hundreds of thousands. So Frieza decided that the best plan of action was to microchip everybody enlisted in his army."

"_Microchip_?!" Yamcha exclaimed.

"Yes, I said microchip. Although it's not common on Earth, it's found all the time in the rest of the universe. It's a really big place, and it's hard to keep track of a lot of people in a lot of places. Anyways, Frieza had microchipped _everybody_, even the Saiyans."

Krillin glanced at Goku, who was still pacing. "Do you think that Goku has one?"

I shrugged. "He could, but it wouldn't be activated." I kept scrolling down, looking for number 9325—Vegeta's code number.

I decided to show the others the lists. "As you can see, most of the names are red."

"What does that mean?" Gohan asked.

"It means that those people are dead."

"That's a lot of people," Bulma murmured.

I turned the laptop back towards me. "Well, most of these people died during battle, and remember, this list was posted twenty years ago. It hasn't been updated since the army disbanded, so it would make sense if it wasn't up to date." I finally found 9325, and clicked on it. Vegeta's info page popped up. The info page pretty much told everything about him, mainly because there was a wire that extended from the microchip to the brain.

"Okay, I found Vegeta's page," I announced.

"Well . . ." Piccolo said, "where is he?" The Namekian had been all but silent until now.

From what I could see from the live video feed, he was flying over a lake of some sort. "I'm not actually sure, but . . . I think can get him over here."

"How?" Goku asked. He kept pacing with quick rhythmic strides. When a Saiyan is very, very mad, they tend to act more ape-like, and that's what Goku was doing now. It's sort of a precursor to the Great Ape form, but Goku's tail is missing, so that's impossible. But still, it was menacing.

I scrolled down the info page, and stopped when I saw a large red button on the screen. It had the word "TALK" on it in white. It was Frieza's way of being funny.

"Let me show you," I said, and clicked on the button. "Hey, Vegeta!" I cried into the laptop's mic. "It's me, Mari!"

The video feed showed me that he'd lost a bit of altitude and almost fell into the lake.

_Mari? Is that you?_ The question wasn't said out loud, but it appeared in the thought box right below the video feed.

I smiled as I pushed the button again. "The one, the only."

Vegeta chuckled. _It's good to talk to you again. Hey, how are you communicating with me?_

"The database," I replied.

_Oh, I hate that thing. So, why did you contact me?_

I glanced up at the others who were staring at me intently. "We need to ask you a few questions."

_Do mean "we" as in "they"? _He was talking about the others.

"Yeah."

Vegeta was somewhat reluctant to come._ Seriously, I have no idea where I am. I could be halfway across the world by now._

"You're flying over Eagle Lake," I said curtly.

_I am? _

"Yes, you are."

_Do I _have_ to come? _Now he's just making excuses.

"Vegeta, I'm _serious_. It's either you come over here or I'll show them some of the Jackass videos we created." The threat was actually a joke, but I would show them if it came to that.

_You wouldn't dare!_

"I would."

Vegeta gave in. _Fine, fine. I'll be there as soon as possible._

"Thanks, monkey."

_You're welcome, lizard._ It was an old joke, but it felt good that Vegeta and I hadn't become distant.

"So, ah, what are you?" Krillin asked. It had been silent for a while.

"I'm Atakian," I replied.

"So . . . was Frieza Atakian as well?" Yamcha questioned.

I nodded. Can't they put two and two together? "Yes. He was Atakian. King Cold was Atakian too."

"Are all Atakians cold-blooded murderers and liars?" What was Goku's problem? What did he have against me and my people?

"To answer your question, not all of us are as cruel as Frieza. We can be very kind if shown kindness." I locked eyes with Goku, and he stared back. It will take a very long time to break his shell.

"How old are you?" Trunks asked.

Damn, they had a lot of questions. "Are you guys interrogating me or something?" No one got the joke, and I stopped laughing. "Oh, and for your information, I'm fifteen." It's the truth. I am fifteen, but not in Earth years. One Atakian year is about . . . 3,350 Earth days, and if you do the math, it comes out to 6.4 Earth years. That's a long year, huh? And if you do a little bit more, you'll find out that I was born in 1874. Crazy, isn't it?

"Wait, _what_?!" Bulma exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm fifteen. I'm not kidding."

Suddenly, the door opened, and in it stood my best friend.

"Hey, Vegeta," I said.

I walked over to the door, and embraced him in a hug. "It's good to see you," he said.

I let go of him and smiled. "It's been way too long." I motioned to sit on the couch. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

After we're all comfortable, the interrogation continued.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Bulma asked.

"We went to the Academy together," I replied. "Those were the four craziest years of my entire life."

Vegeta laughed. "So many memories . . ."

"Wait, what exactly is the Academy?" This question was from Tien.

"It was sort of a school for Frieza's goons-in-training." That was the simplest way of saying it.

"Ah . . ." Trunks murmured.

"Did they teach you how to kill people in inhumane ways?"

Okay, this was seriously getting on my nerves. "Seriously, what's your problem, Goku? I'm not a bad person. If you'd look past that—"

He rudely cut me off. "I repeat: _I don't care_."

I stood up and got in his face. Cold, uncaring black eyes stared back. "Don't get me angry, Kakarot. You will pay dearly."

"First of all, my name isn't Kakarot. And second, you're going to be the one who's gonna pay."

My hands balled into fists, and my tail lashed in annoyance. I was positive that there was going to be a fight on our hands if something wasn't done soon. "I thought you were the Saiyan that defied most beliefs." I walked back towards Vegeta. I glanced back at Goku, who was radiating pure hatred. "I can see I was wrong."

I sat down, fuming. An angry Atakian was worse than an angry Namekian and even an angry Saiyan. A Namekian may have amazing battle sense and little room for error, a Saiyan may be able to transform into a giant monkey and turn gold, but an Atakian has a power greater than that—the power to change its form.

We lapsed into awkward silence.

"Okayyyyy . . . that was weird," Krillin murmured.

The silence continued. It gave me time to think. I know for sure that many years ago, Goku had been a very gentle spirit and only harmed people when necessary. What had changed? Did bringing him back change him in any way?

No, that was stupid. He was the same Goku, the one who had killed Raditz and died in the process, brought Frieza to his knees but spared him, sacrificed his life to defeat Cell, and a whole bunch of other things. I just didn't understand why he hated me so much. He should've been warm and welcoming, but it was the other way around.

Should I have brought him back with the dragon head piece? What if it had changed him, and now he really _was_ a Saiyan, not a Saiyan who showed mercy to his enemies? What if he turned out like Vegeta?

These thoughts and many more swirled around my head, and in return, it gave me a pounding headache. I guess that the person who created the saying 'thinking so much that your brain hurt' was on to something. I suddenly noticed that the others are immersed in a spirited discussion, but I didn't feel like joining in.

"Hey, Krillin, has Android 18 contacted you yet?" Yamcha asked.

Krillin looked down in embarrassment, his cheeks bright red. "No, she hasn't. Not yet."

"It'll be fine, Krillin. She'll come around eventually." Yamcha patted him encouragingly on the shoulder.

"Yeah," Krillin muttered. He didn't seem so sure.

"So, what's happened since I died?" Goku asked. This was the first question that hadn't trained at me.

Tien shrugged. "Nothing much. It's been fairly peaceful."

"Now that you're back, we're sure to have loads of trouble coming our way," Bulma muttered, a sour look on her face.

Goku snorted. "I don't think so. I learned a lot from the masters in Otherworld."

Now this got me interested. "What masters did you train with?"

He started rambling off names. Most of them weren't familiar, but some ring a bell. "Wait, you trained with _Segu_?" I asked. Segu was the only Atakian ever to become a god. Or should I say goddess? I'm not sure.

The Saiyan nodded. "Uh huh. I learned a lot from her."

"Did you meet someone named Tenghzi?"

Goku cocked his head, confused. "No, I don't think so." I had a faint glimmer of hope that he was still alive. Horribly sick and on his deathbed, but alive nonetheless.

"Well, he was my master when I was younger, and I learned a lot from him."

Vegeta glanced at me. "You mean Old Man Tenghzi? I didn't know that you learned from him."

"That was a long time ago."

"So, what have you been up to lately?" Vegeta asked.

"I did a lot of things," I replied. "I went back home for a while. I also visited Namek, Nor-Yan-Kai, Regunta, Hapti, Daniz and a few others. I also learned that there are two other Saiyans in the universe that Frieza overlooked."

Trunks gasped. "Two? Two more Saiyans are out there?"

I nodded. "Uh huh. There's one male and one female." The female was really the link between the dying Saiyan race because without her, the race will most likely dilute over the years and someday fade. That would be a sad, sad day.

"Where are they?" Gohan asked.

"The male is on Daniz right now, and the female in on Earth."

"Earth?!" everyone cried out in unison.

"Yeah, I said Earth. The only problem is that she's in a cryogenic tank deep underground. And I think that she's in one of Doctor Ghero's labs."

"Wait, we destroyed Ghero's lab years ago," Krillin said. "How can that be possible?"

"He had _multiple_ labs." No shit, Sherlock.

"So we could have more Androids on our tail?" Piccolo asked, his eyes narrowing.

I shrugged. "Who knows?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black shadow form near the door. It took shape, and the spirit of my father appeared. His voice echoed in my mind.

_Right my wrong, Mari,_ he says. _Only you can make peace with them._

The shadow faded away. I suddenly felt alone and incredibly sad. I missed my father dearly, and it was a cruel joke that he appeared to me. The others had lapsed back into another conversation. I watched closely but don't say anything. They have some catching up to do.

After a few more hours, the sun had set, and a few of them left. Only me, Bulma, Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien, and Yamcha stayed.

"Well . . . that was fun," I said, my voice flat. I felt emotionally drained.

"Uh huh . . ." Bulma said.

"_Santusi teganhi ishtka_?" I asked Vegeta in Saiyan. _So, how've you been?_

He shrugged. "_Reshsti_." _Pretty good._

We started a conversation in Saiyan, mainly because we didn't want the others to overhear. The others stared at us as if we'd turned into dragons.

_"There's been a lot of gossip about you, Prince Vegeta."_

_"Like what?"_

_"I can see that the rumors about your son are true."_

Vegeta's eyes widened. _"That became a rumor?!"_

I nodded_. "It was all the rage a few years ago. _No one_ would shut up about it."_

_"Well . . . it's true."_

I rolled my eyes. _"Vegeta, I'm not an idiot. I can put two and two together. Trunks is your son."_

_"You could tell, couldn't you?"_

_"It was pretty obvious."_

He chuckled. _"You're always observant. Too much sometimes."_

_"At least I don't let my guard down like you always do."_

Vegeta bared he teeth at me. _"Be quiet, or I'll have to fight you!" _It was a joke, but the sound of his voice was menacing, and the others shrunk away.

_"You know, you're a lot scarier in Great Ape form."_

_"If I still had my tail, you'd be dead meat."_

We laughed. It's been a long time since I've had a really good laugh. Ever since Ginyu . . . oh, never mind. I glanced at the others, who looked scared out of their wits. "Oh, sorry about that," I apologized in English.

"No, it's fine," Bulma replied.

"Wait, what language were you talking in?" Yamcha asked.

"Saiyan," Vegeta replied nonchalantly.

Piccolo's eyes widened. "Does it always sound so rough?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's a pretty savage language."

After a few minutes, mostly everybody decided to call it a night. Everyone except Piccolo, that is. I suddenly remembered that Namekians don't have to sleep.

I walked back to my room and closed the door behind me. I leaned against the door and sighed. I'd given _way_ to much info about myself. I was planning to leave after today, but that plan was totally out the window now.

I put my bag on the desk, and started to unpack it. I kept my laptop out, and brought out a few other things like an iPod and a digital camera. I turned the camera on and searched for a funny video. After a while, one of them caught my attention, and I clicked PLAY.

It was the video I filmed when Ginyu, Jase, and I went to Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. I watched the whole thing, and almost died of laughter when Jase screamed like a little girl on the Raging Bull. Those were the good days, when no one really cared what their rank was in Frieza's army. I probably woke some people up, but did I care? No, not really.

I decided to go to sleep after a while, because I knew that by the time I would be awake, it would be later in the night. As I crawled under the covers, I thought of ways to make a quick escape just in case something comes up. But my gut said I'll be here for a while.

I fell into a dreamless sleep and woke up three hours later. I felt a lot better than I did earlier. From what I could tell, it was about one in the morning. The house around me was relatively quiet, and I really enjoyed it. Being alone allowed me to get my thoughts in order and I had some serious stuff to think of: Vegeta, Kakarot, my father's spirit, and many other things.

"Oh, spirits," I moaned.

Sunrise was far off, so I decided to just chill out and do some reading. Just like my father, I loved to read for the pure fun of it. Just thinking of my father brought sad, remorseful thoughts to mind. If I had stopped him from going to his enemy's home world, maybe he would've still been alive.

_Don't think like that_, I thought. _The past is the past, and I can't change it_.

I was suddenly irritated with myself, thinking that dwelling on the past won't do anything good. I then focused back on the book, _Inheritance_, by Christopher Paolini. It was about dragons and elves and magic and had a lot of action. Well, it _was_ the last book of the series.

Halfway through the book, I suddenly felt really disgusting and decide to do something better about my hair.

I walked over to the mirror above the dresser and look at my reflection. My face stared back. My skin was a shiny white, like a pearl. My eyes, which had a cat-like angular look to them, stared back at me with bright red irises lacking pupils. My shaggy hair was the color of sapphires, and it barely brushed my shoulders. It used to practically come down to my ass, but someone (also known as Ginyu) had cut it in a drunken rage. Two black lines extended from my eyes to my jaw. My lips were a dark red, and always seemed to quirk up to the right. Everyone at home always said I looked like a blue version of my father.

I suddenly noticed the hand-shaped bruise on my neck. "Nice one, Goku," I muttered.

I started to work on the mess that is my hair. I had more time, so I do an _enti_ braid, where you make a tight braid and pin it up in a bun. It took a lot of trial and error, and by the time I was done, it was at least four in the morning. My hair looked fine, but the rest of me didn't. I decided to put on a blue and black flannel shirt and jeans. I didn't wear any shoes, mainly because my three-toed feet didn't fit into normal earthling shoes.

I knew that everyone will be up after the sun is up, so I decided to do some _tenghzi_, named after the famous Atakian master. It's a mix of tai-chi and yoga, used by warriors to loosen up muscles and to calm the mind.

As I went through the moves, I listened to my iPod. It's a very mixed thing, with almost anything imaginable on it. Pop, Rock, Rap, Country, you name it.

Five motions later, "Sick" by Evanescence started to play. I loved Evanescence mainly because of the dark, edgy music they create. But this song in particular hit home. It reminded me of when we were abandoned on the safe-house on Earth and Ginyu treated me very, very badly. Just thinking of those five months sent shivers up my spine.

I advanced to the _westrik,_ where I went into a handstand and kept my body perfectly still. I did the first part without trouble, but the whole 'keep every muscle in your body still' concept will be hard. The others will be up in about two hours, and I knew from experience that it was really hard to keep the _westrik_ when everyone was up and moving. But I still had a good two hours. That would be more than enough time.

After twenty songs, the house started to come alive. I was still in the _westrik_ form and I hadn't moved ever since I started the form. I strained to hear anything valuable, and after a while, I picked up on a conversation between Piccolo, Tien, and Yamcha.

"Seriously, I don't trust her," Yamcha hissed. I imagined the three warriors talking close together, making sure Bulma and especially Vegeta don't hear them.

"I still don't like the fact that she looks so much like Frieza. When she stood up to Goku, I swore Frieza was in the room with us," Tien said.

"Why did you bring her here in the first place?" Piccolo growled. "If you had just left her in the woods, we wouldn't be in this mess. We should've just left her there and see what fate dealt her."

"Calm down, Piccolo," Tien murmured. "It was the right thing to do."

The Namekian grunted. "Stupid humans and their stupid emotions." I suddenly remembered that a Namekian's brain was wired differently, where survival instincts were more important than emotions.

"Anyways," Yamcha continued, "I don't know if we should believe anything she says. Is she really fifteen? Did she and Vegeta really go to that academy place together?"

Vegeta finally noticed them and butt in rudely. "For your information, Mari _is_ fifteen and we _did_ go to the Academy together. Both of us have proof. And, I don't think Mari likes people talking behind her back, so don't do it anymore."

I imagined Vegeta walking away. "Uh, I hate you, Vegeta," Yamcha muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!" Vegeta yelled. I laughed silently. That _would_ be Vegeta. Even though a Saiyan's hearing isn't as advanced as a Namekian's, it's still pretty acute. Unlike humans, who notice _nothing_.

"Hey, do you think Mari's up?" Bulma asked.

Vegeta chuckled. "Of course she is. She's probably been up since three, maybe earlier. She doesn't have to sleep as much as we do."

"Weird," Tien murmured.

Back in my room, I finally broke my form. My tail twitched. That was a new record, I think.

"So, ah, Vegeta?" Bulma started.

"Yes?" he asked. I noticed that he seemed gentle towards Bulma.

"Did you and Mari . . . ever . . . ?" Her sentence faded. My eyes widened, and it clicked in my head. Was Bulma thinking of_ that_?!

"No. We're good friends, that's all."

"Oh, okay." That conversation ended, and became quiet.

I started to fidget. I couldn't keep the _westrik_ form and decided to end it. I did a backflip and landed safely on my feet. They made a loud _thunk_ when they hit the floor, and I assumed that everyone heard it.

"She's up," Vegeta said. "And I think she was in the _westrik_ form."

"What are you talking about?" Yamcha asked. He sounded confused.

"It's a long story," Vegeta replied. "And you humans are a bit too stupid to follow."

"What did you just say?" Yamcha snarled.

I opened the door, and by the time I get to the kitchen, Yamcha and Vegeta are already fighting. It was much too fast for a normal human to see, but I followed them every time they moved.

"Guys, stop it!" I yelled out. Yamcha and Vegeta paused. Vegeta's fist was poised a few inches from Yamcha's face.

"Dammit, you ignorant monkeys," I growled. I swore a lot, but most of it was in my mind. When it hit my mouth, it was pretty bad. "You could've torn down the house! How would you like that?" My hands balled into fists, and a ball of energy formed a few inches from my hand. If I had to do the Mantis or any other energy blast, I would definitely do it. Vegeta glanced at me and stepped back. He knew when I was pissed out of my mind, and now was one of those times.

"Oh, sorry," Yamcha apologized.

I didn't say anything. I had a nagging feeling that Yamcha and I wouldn't get along very well in the future. After another moment of the stand-off, Bulma glanced at a watch on her wrist. "Hey, we gotta hurry. We're meeting the others at Master Roshi's place at ten."

Roshi? That name didn't sound familiar. "Master Roshi? Who's that?"

"He's Goku's and Krillin's master," Tien replied. "He taught them the Kamehameha."

"Ah . . ." I murmured.

We lapsed into silence. It's so thick I could've cut it with a knife. A few minutes passed by. I could sense that everyone's power levels were at a normal size, but Vegeta's and Yamcha's were very close to jumping higher.

"Guys," Bulma said, breaking the silence. "Let's go. We got a long way to go."

We agreed. As Tien, Yamcha, Piccolo, Vegeta and I blasted off, Bulma got into a ship and followed us. It was an Earth ship, but the craftsmanship was really good. I planned to ask her about it later.

Tien and Yamcha started a conversation. I tried to listen in, but the wind in my ears was too loud. I picked up bits and pieces, but nothing good. I started to focus on where we are. We were flying over a coastal city, and soon enough, the land gave way, and the ocean stretched before us in all directions.

"Hey, Vegeta, doesn't this remind you of T'kheri?" T'kheri was a very watery planet that was overtaken by Frieza a while back. Vegeta and I just so happened to be part of that siege, which was actually harder than it looked.

"Yeah, I remember," he muttered.

I laughed and did a loop in the air. "C'mon, it wasn't _that_ bad. You were unconscious for what? Five, maybe six days?"

Vegeta stiffened. He may not have been in a good mood, but I knew I was. "Seriously, Vegeta, why are you acting like going to T'kheri is the worst thing you did in your whole life?"

He caught up to me. "Because Cui outdid me that day."

"Ugh, you're still mad at that? Cui is dead. You killed him yourself. Why are you still resentful?"

Vegeta looked away. "You wouldn't understand."

I rolled my eyes. "Saiyans and their pride. Jeez, just get over it, Vegeta."

He looked me right in the eye. "I can't, Mari. I just _can't_."

"Just like you just _have_ to have a rematch with Kakarot?"

A shadow of a smile reached Vegeta's lips. "Exactly."

"Hey, guys, we're here," Yamcha called out. I looked down and saw a small island. On it is a small beach, two palm trees, and a house that has the words, "KAME HOUSE" painted on the side in bright red letters. We landed on the beach, and Goku, Gohan, Krillin, and a small old man greeted us. Trunks was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, guys," Tien said.

"So, who's this?" the old man asked. He studied me carefully, glancing me over. From behind dark sunglasses, I could tell that his eyes were cross-examining me.

"My name is Mari, sir," I said, bowing to him.

"Don't need to be formal here, Mari," he said. "Oh, by the way, my name is Master Roshi."

I nodded. "Nice to meet you, Master Roshi."

Vegeta elbowed me in the side. "I'm warning you now: Master Roshi is a senile old man."

I laughed quietly. "Oh, great. First Tenghzi, now Master Roshi."

Goku looked at us and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Please, come in." He sounded irritated, and it made his sentence sound like an order.

We went through the door and sat down in the living room. Everyone seemed tense, as if a feral monster were about to jump through the door any second.

"So . . . do you know Goku?" Master Roshi asked.

"No," I replied. "But I've heard about him. A lot of people in the universe gossip all the time about him."

"What do they say?" the old master asked.

"Oh . . . just little bits of gossip here and there. A lot of people think he's the Super Saiyan of legend. Others think he's a fool for challenging the prince."

"The prince?" Krillin asked, confused.

I jabbed a thumb at Vegeta. "Duh. Vegeta was prince of the Saiyans before . . ." I cut myself off because Vegeta was giving me a look that said _shut up if you know what's good for you_.

The others started a conversation. I watched closely. The gist of it was that no one really knows how or why Goku was brought back to life or who did it.

_If only you knew, Kakarot,_ I thought icily. _You would be about to explode if you knew the real truth._

"Hey, where's Chiaotzu?" Goku asked.

Tien looked down. "He died."

"How?"

"Natural causes," Tien replied. Who was this Chiaotzu?

"He can't be brought back, can he?" Gohan asked.

Tien nodded. "Yeah. He's already been brought back once, and Shenron can't bring back people who died of natural causes."

"The Dragon Balls here are so weak," I muttered to no one in particular.

"What does that supposed to mean?" Goku snarled, snapping his head towards me.

I held up my hands in denial. "Nothing. Jeez, don't get your tail in a knot. I'm just saying that compared to other means in the universe, the earthling Dragon Balls are weak and bound by a lot of certain rules."

"So . . . there is other stuff in the universe that can grant wishes?" Yamcha asked.

I nodded. "Uh huh. The last time I checked there are . . . fifteen other planets that have objects that can grant wishes. And that _doesn't_ include Earth and Namek."

"Damn," Krillin murmured.

The others picked up the conversation. I didn't say anything. Well, is this what they do all the time? All I knew was that we're getting nowhere fast. I glanced at Vegeta, and saw that he's antsy too.

_How long are we going to be here?_ I thought.

For some odd reason, my thoughts projected to the others, and they stopped what they were doing and stared at me.

"Did you just say that?" Piccolo asked.

"Uh, no, but . . . that's what I thought," I replied.

The others just stared at me with wide eyes. Vegeta, however, laughed. "Nice one, Mari. That's the what, tenth time you've done that?"

I slapped my forehead. "Eleventh, actually. The last time it happened is when we were in port on Ekasta." It wasn't the truth, but did he need to know? I didn't think so.

"Oh, yeah, I remember that! I still can't believe that they had to take the ship apart, fix the problem, and then put it back together." We kept talking about stuff that happened while we were in Frieza's army. The others just stared at us and tried to comprehend. They failed epically.

"So, do you want to spar like old times?" I asked.

Vegeta stood up. "Oh, definitely."

I glanced at the others. "You can join us in you want." I wasn't sure if they would.

Vegeta headed out the door. I followed him at a distance. I'm pretty sure that he would get in the air and attack from above. I looked up and saw a small dot in the sky. Of course.

"So that's how you wanna do it?" I muttered to myself as I rose up into the air.

"On the count of three," the Saiyan said. "One . . . two . . . THREE!"

Our fists met, and it sent ripples through the air. The others had run out of the house and were watching our fight. They could sense how high our power levels were, with mine at 273,000 and Vegeta's at 245,000.

"You're _still_ stronger than me?!" Vegeta exclaimed as he flipped into Super Saiyan form.

I smiled smugly. "You're getting rusty, aren't you, Vegeta?" I just had to bring up the fact that Vegeta had 'stopped' fighting after Kakarot died in the battle with Cell. I didn't know who or what made him come back.

Vegeta attacked. I met every of Vegeta's blows with one of my own. We're pretty evenly matched, and I was curious who will win this fight.

I managed to get away from him and gathered the energy to do the Mantis. The Mantis was a move I created a few years back. It was done by coiling the arm close to the head with the wrist extended as far as it can go, creating a ball of energy a few inches away from the hand, and then bringing the arm down in a quick motion while you flick your wrist, the energy ball flying out of your grip. If done correctly and with enough power, it could kill.

I did all the motions, and the ball of energy flew towards Vegeta like. He looked up a few seconds before it hit him in dead the chest.

As it hit him, he flew backwards. It made a loud _BOOM_ and expanded, turning the whole world blood red for a few moments. After the dust settled, I saw Vegeta lying on the beach, unconscious. The others stared at me in horror. Oh, no, they probably thought I was a total monster . . . like Frieza.

I landed on the beach in front of Vegeta. He stirred slightly and opened his eyes. "Okay, you got me there," he muttered, and then lost consciousness. The others approached me hesitantly. To them, I was a live grenade right now.

"Is he going to be okay?" Bulma asked.

I shrugged. "Yeah." I suddenly felt very embarrassed and ashamed of myself. I shouldn't have done the Mantis. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Goku went back into the house and came back a moment later with a leather bag in his hand.

"What are those?" I asked. I didn't trust Goku enough for him to give me strange food. It could be poisoned for all I knew.

"Senzu beads," he replied. Goku kneeled down next to Vegeta and made him eat it. After a second, Vegeta woke up.

"Here, you have one too," Goku said and tossed me one. I grabbed it and looked at it curiously. It was fairly small and a pale green color. I sniffed the odd bean, and it smelled like thick forests and metal. That's odd, because that's what Planet Vegeta smelled like before Frieza destroyed it. Weird.

"Go on, eat it," Krillin said.

I bit it, and I suddenly felt awake and alert. The damage I'd sustained from the past two fights on Earth disappeared. Even the ache in my neck and the cut on my palm faded.

"Man, what are those things?" I asked.

"They're senzu beads," Gohan replied. "Korin grows them at the Lookout."

"Oh . . ." My sentence faded. I suddenly remember a conversation between me and Bardock (yes, I mean Kakarot's late father) a while back. It was about a Saiyan plant of legend, the _oskarka_ plant, which could heal even the worst damages. "Wait, where are they from?"

Tien shrugged. "We don't know. Korin has never told us."

I glanced back at Vegeta, who was standing up now. "Hey, Vegeta, do you remember the legend of the _oskarka_ plant?"

"No, not really."

"Well . . . there's an old Saiyan legend about a plant that could cure even the worst injuries. Supposedly, there were only three plants in existence and they were scattered all around the universe. I'm almost positive that your senzu beads are the rare _oskarka_."

"So . . . Senzu beads could be Saiyan?" Piccolo asked.

"Yes, emerald skin," I replied.

Piccolo blinked in confusion. "What does 'emerald skin' mean?"

I smiled mysteriously. "I'll tell you guys sometime soon. All in due time."


	2. Chapter 2

Two months passed. Nothing really happened. Well . . . there was a lot of training and stuff like that, but nothing majorly life-threatening. Note how I say _majorly_.

"Go higher, Tien! If you want to do the Mantis, you _need_ to get higher!" I looked up at Tien's small form high up in the sky. He was about twenty feet in the air at the most.

I could see him go into the Mantis form, and he executed it exactly. It hit the target dead on and the straw under it caught fire. I quickly extinguished it before it could go any farther.

"Good, good!" I glanced back at the others behind me. "Who's next?"

No one stepped forwards. They seemed almost hesitant to try it. "Aw, c'mon! It's not _that_ bad!"

The first one to crack was Krillin. "Uh . . . I'll go."

"Finally, someone mans up," I muttered to myself. I turned my attention back to Krillin. "Okay, same thing. Try to hit the middle of the target using the Mantis."

"'Kay," he said and jumped in the air. He got fairly high and did the form. But he hesitated at the last second, and the energy ball veered to the right. It didn't even get close to the target.

"How'd I do?" he asked as soon as he touched the ground.

"You hesitated at the last second, but your form was pretty good." I was trying to use constructive criticism without being mean. So far, it was going pretty well.

"Okay, that's enough for today," I announced, looking up at the sky. It was an angry gray, promising rain and maybe even thunder and lightning. "Nasty storm's coming."

"How do you know that?" Yamcha asked, looking up at the sky.

I shrugged. "When there are two tornados, five thunderstorms, and one monsoon going on at the same time, you learn how to read the weather pretty quickly."

"That's a lot of weather for one day," Goku muttered as we flew towards Capsule Corp.

I laughed. "Planet Vegeta was even worse. When the rainy seasons came, the whole planet flooded. It was one big, wet mess."

The others laughed. They had gotten used to my sarcasm fairly quickly. After that, we lapsed into another silence. Those tended to happen a lot.

"So . . . since you're Atakian, can you change your forms like Frieza could?" Gohan asked after a good ten minutes.

"Yeah, I can. Practically every Atakian can."

"You're on your third form, aren't you?" Piccolo asked.

I glanced back at him, confused. "Huh?" I then remembered that Frieza had 'numbered' his transformations. "Well . . . that's was Frieza called it. A lot of Atakians name their forms a certain way."

"Are there more forms than the ones we've seen?" Krillin asked.

"There's thousands, millions even. There are a few forms that are only Atakian, but we can also become different species. Pretty much, we can change into anything."

Vegeta chuckled under his breath. "And she means _anything_, even Saiyan."

"Anything?!" Tien exclaimed.

"Yup. Anything." I glanced at the others and smiled. "Don't believe me? I'll show you." I closed my eyes and thought of a Saiyan. I pictured a tall, muscular female Saiyan with the usual spiky black hair, piercing eyes, monkey tail and all the other things that define a Saiyan. I could feel my bones snapping and re-shaping themselves. It only lasted a few seconds, much quicker than Frieza. He wasn't known for his speed, but he was known for keeping his sanity in check while shifting. Atakians, mainly males, sometimes go crazy during the middle of changing forms, and sometimes they get stuck in between form. Trust me, it's not very pretty. And also, he could keep his power in check in all of his Atakian forms. That's not very common. Even _I_ could lose control sometimes.

I leered back at the others. "So, how do you like it?" My voice was the thick timbre of a Saiyan.

"Nice," Yamcha said. He sounded impressed.

I returned to my normal form. After a few more minutes, the skies opened up, and it started to rain. The drops were big and made anything and everything they touched wet. We were soaked in a few minutes.

"Well, this is fun," Krillin muttered. He was so cold that he was shaking.

Capsule Corp. came into view, and we touched down in the front lawn. True to my nature, I didn't stick the landing and ended up with a face full of mud. Everyone laughed. They've seen my horrible landings before.

As the others went in, I waited outside in the downpour. The last one to go in was Gohan, and he glanced back at me with watchful eyes.

"You coming in?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I need to get something from my ship," I replied.

He nodded. "Okay." Gohan then closed the door behind him. I headed towards the Capsule Corp's bunker, which was deep underground. My ship had been docked there ever since I had known I'd be here for a while.

I entered the warm bunker and opened up my ship. I walked towards the back of the ship, and opened up a hidden compartment in the wall. Inside it was a few pictures, a brown leather bag, and a piece of flat bone about the size of a tennis ball. I grabbed all of the stuff inside the compartment and closed it back up.

"Well . . . here goes nothing," I muttered as I sealed up my ship and headed back towards Bulma's house. I turned the lock, and found out it was open. I opened the door, and, as usual, the others were lounging in the living room.

"Hey, can I talk to you guys?" I asked.

Everyone looked up. "Uh . . . sure; go ahead," Yamcha said.

I didn't sit down; I was way too antsy. As I told the others, I started to pace. "Okay, I know all of you are wondering why I know so much about Frieza,"

"Yeah, we know," Goku said. After two months, his hostility had died down, but it was still there at times.

"And you may wonder how I'm related to him, too. Any guesses?"

"Uhhhh . . . is he your brother?" Bulma asked.

I snorted. "Barely. He was thirty-six when he died."

"Cousin?" Piccolo suggested.

"No."

"Uncle?" Krillin asked.

A ghost of a smile reached my face. "You're getting closer."

"He . . . he's . . ." Gohan faltered. After a few moments, he put two and two together. "Frieza's your _father_!"

I chuckled darkly. "You're one hundred percent correct."

No one said anything. I waited for yelling and screaming and fists flying.

"Well . . . it makes sense," Tien murmured after a while.

I looked up at him, my eyes wide. "Wait, what?"

"You look like Frieza," he said. "And you act like him, too. Even your energy felt like his."

_Stupid, watchful, psychic human_, I thought irritably. "I know you think my father is a heartless, soulless monster, but he's not."

I pulled out the pictures. I glanced down at the top one. It was a picture of me and my father at the 1982 World Series Game, where the Milwaukee Brewers lost by a wide margin. At that time, we only cared about the game—no mention of the army at all—and just thinking about it gave me a warm feeling in my chest.

I threw the pictures to Vegeta. "I know you've seen these before, but the others haven't. Pass them around." I then directed my conversation to the others. "Although he seemed like a monster to you all, he wasn't. He had a heart, even if he didn't show it. I can tell you a thousand stories of my father, of Frieza."

Krillin glanced up from the pictures. "I've never seen Frieza like this."

"No one really has," I said. "Not even Vegeta knows that Frieza counted him almost like a son."

Vegeta stared at me in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"I am. He told me many times that you had the most potential out of the Saiyans left in the universe."

Gohan noticed the piece of bone in my hand. "What's that in your hand?"

I smiled slightly, but it wasn't happy. "This is all Trunks left of my father." Trunks had left shortly after I came, mainly because he had to return to the future. I held up the piece of bone. "It's a piece of his skull. It's the only thing I have left of him." I held the bone shard to my heart, praying desperately that my father could come back.

I took a deep breath. The others probably wouldn't like what I say next. "Okay, before I become an emotional wreck, I need to tell you guys something else too." I took another deep breath. "_I_ was the one who brought you back, Goku."

Everyone was stunned. They just stared at me with wide eyes and open mouths. "Bu—but how is it possible?!" Krillin spluttered.

I put the piece of bone in my pocket, and opened up the leather bag. I pulled out a shiny blue piece of stone. It shined like a diamond or a sapphire. It was shaped like a dragon's head. The dragon had a lizard-like face, with large horns and a gaping mouth filled with serrated teeth. Its eyes seemed alive, and followed you across the room.

"This," I said, "is what I used to bring him back." I held it out to the others. They leaned towards it, as if it were a priceless gem. And, according to earthling standards, it was.

"What is it?" Bulma asked.

"The dragon head piece," I replied.

"So . . . you used this to bring me back? Was that your only wish?" Goku asked. His voice was scornful.

"No," I retorted. "There are five pieces, actually. When all of the pieces are together, the dragon appears, and five wishes can be granted."

"Five? _Five_ wishes?!" Yamcha exclaimed.

I nodded. "Yes, I said five wishes. But the only problem is that the pieces are scattered around the entire universe, and they always appear in places I've been. I have four pieces. I haven't looked on Earth yet, and I have a feeling the final piece here."

"But . . . you don't know exactly where it is?" Piccolo asked.

"No. But I have a few ideas." I had one idea, actually. A few years ago, my father had assigned me and the Ginyu Force to do reconnaissance here on Earth. He was curious why Kakarot hadn't replied back yet. We were there for five months, mainly because the transmission on our ship was busted and we were pretty much stranded. Yeah, it wasn't fun to say the least.

"I have a question: what would you wish for when you get the fifth piece?" Goku asked. I knew what he's thinking. He thought that I'll wish back Frieza, and he will continue his reign of terror. Of course he does.

I shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe wish back my twin sister, Siri. Or help my home planet. It's still recovering from Frieza's time as Chief."

Gohan raised an eyebrow. "Would you wish back Frieza?"

I looked away. "I would, but I know that all of you would find him and kill him again." I tried to fight the tears, but in the end, they won.

"Mari, are you okay?" Bulma asked. She put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged her away. "I'm fine," I managed to choke out. Then, not wanting the others to see me in such a state of grief, I ran back to my room and slammed the door loudly behind me.

I slumped down to ground in front of the door. Tears streamed violently down my face, and I didn't care how bad I look.

"I'm so sorry, Father," I moaned in my native language. Tears and snot mixed, and I knew I was a complete mess. "I'm so sorry. I should have done better. I failed you, like I did with Siri." Okay, here's the story: when I was a child, my twin sister, Siri, and I were on Planet Vegeta when a large male Saiyan grabbed her and took her away down a dark alley. The only thing I could think of was to go back to Frieza, who was in the middle of a war council. I barged in it, and told him the story with a quivering voice. A few seconds later, my father and I ran out and tried to find her. Since we were identical twins, we had a connection, and I knew exactly what she was feeling. Horror, terror, dread, fear. When we finally found her, the Saiyan that had taken her had done his job. Siri was lying on the ground, a large dagger embedded in her chest. It was too late to save her. Frieza never forgave himself, and neither did I. That was one of reasons he destroyed the Saiyan's home world. The Saiyan who murdered Siri got what he deserved, but it was, and still is hard.

After a good half an hour of crying later, I fell asleep leaning against the door. And, true to my nature, I dreamed of my father.

_I'm in my father's favorite ship, _The Glider_, with Frieza. We are in the viewing room in the front of the ship, where Frieza spends most of his time. He is staring out the window while I watch him from a distance. For some odd reason, he is in his normal form again, and I'm wearing armor and a scouter. That's weird, because I usually didn't wear armor and didn't need a scouter and my father prefers his warrior form. _

_"You shouldn't mourn me," he murmurs as he stares out the window._

_"But why?"_

_He looks back at me. His face is tight with anguish and pain. "I don't deserve to be mourned."_

_I walk up next to him. "Don't talk like this." He barely reaches my shoulder. Compared to most Atakians, Frieza is small. He's even smaller than Vegeta, who's a runt (don't tell him I said that)._

_Frieza looks at me with a look of pure sadness. Tears well in his eyes. "Mari, I've done things I terribly regret. I've hurt so many people. I've killed countless people. I am a monster."_

_"No, you're not! You're a very nice person, and I know it."_

_Tears run down Frieza's face. I'm very taken back; he rarely cries. "Do Vegeta and Kakarot know? No. Mari, you're the only person I treat as if you are a living, breathing being."_

_"Well . . ." I falter. "The ruler of the universe can't look soft, can he?"_

_Frieza just stares out at the space out in front of us. We're approaching a small, green planet. It reminds me of Earth or my home planet, Ataki. "I have to go now, Mari, but this is what I leave you: my enemies will someday become your allies . . ."_

The scene faded to black, and I woke up.

"Dammit," I groaned as I got up. I felt sore from leaning against a door for a good four hours.

From what I could tell, the sun had just set. I wondered if the others were still here. A few moments later, I could another conversation.

"I feel really bad now," Gohan said.

"No, no it's fine," Vegeta said. "Mari just misses her father. Didn't _you_ miss your father when he died?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"But seriously, do you think she'll wish Frieza back? It could be Namek all over again," Krillin muttered.

_I was planning to, actually,_ I thought._ But now that you all just _had_ to find me in the woods, I guess that's out of the picture_. I purposely tried to project my thoughts, and it actually worked. The others stopped what they were doing and listened.

_Hey! _an unknown voice cried out telepathically. _Don't trust her! You can never trust an Atakian!_

"What do you mean, King Kai?" Goku asked.

_I mean is that Atakians are double-crossing, murderous traitors!_ King Kai said.

A deep growl rose in my throat. _What is that supposed to mean? _

King Kai noticed the threat in my question and backed off. _Okay, chill out. I didn't say anything_.

"So . . . is there anything you wanted to tell us?" Tien asked.

_Ummmm . . . no, not really_, King Kai replied.

"But why are you here?" Vegeta asked, irritated.

_I'm bored, and I just so happened to pick up on your conversation._

Everyone, including me, groaned.

_What? Ever since Goku brought Cell to my home in Otherworld, it's been slow._

After a while, the others started ask King Kai a lot of questions. I didn't say anything, but listened instead. Maybe something King Kai said would help me find the last piece.

_Oh, I know where it is_, King Kai said, directing it at me. I paused from what I was doing, which was trying to decode some ancient Saiyan text. From what I could tell so far, it was an old census record.

_Really?_ I asked telepathically.

_Uh huh._ King Kai sounded almost smug.

_Where is it? I need to know!_

_Okay, okay, calm down. Your first thought will lead you to the tail piece._

_So it _is_ at the safe house on Eagle Lake?_

_Yup._ There was a sudden _whunk_ from where King Kai is. _Go away, Bubbles!_ He then noticed that we were still listening. _Oh, sorry about that. Monkeys can be really annoying sometimes_.

I chuckled. _I know what you mean. _

_You've owned a monkey?_

_No . . ._

_Oh . . ._ King Kai faded out, and I got the feeling he'd left. After a little procrastinating, I decided that I should face the others, and I opened the door cautiously. No one jumped out and attacked, so I headed towards the living room, mostly because I knew the others would be there.

My intuition was right. They were huddled together, probably whispering about me and what to do. Only Vegeta was not in this group.

"What was that comment about monkeys?" Vegeta asked.

I laughed. "It was a joke that Frieza made up. For a while, he only called Saiyans 'monkeys.' That was a very funny war council." Each Saiyan had a different name, and for example, King Vegeta was Gorilla and another general was Chimpanzee.

The others, who had just finished a war council of their own, glanced up at me.

"So, has the jury reached a verdict?" I asked sarcastically.

No one laughed. Gods, didn't they understand sarcasm? "Well . . ." Goku hesitated.

"Well, what?" My tail lashed irritably. I didn't like to wait.

"If you go to that 'safe house' that you mentioned, we have to go with you," Tien said.

My happy demeanor disappeared in a sudden _whoosh_. "Uh . . ." I faltered. I was planning to get the last piece by myself, but I could see that's out of the picture now. "Um, sure, I guess."

"Where exactly is the safe house?" Krillin asked.

"I can't actually tell you the _exact_ location, but what I can tell you is that it's on a lake called Eagle Lake somewhere up north."

"Ah, when are we going?" Gohan asked.

I shrugged. "We can leave whenever you want to."

"Tomorrow?" Tien suggested.

"That's fine."

The next day, we set off to the safe house. Pretty much all of us were going—me, Vegeta, Kakarot, Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, Bulma, and Tien. Yamcha stayed behind because they usually had someone stay behind just in case something happened at home. And besides, I was fed up with him already.

"So many memories," I muttered to myself. _And not all of them are good_, I added silently. We were flying to the safe house while Bulma followed on the ground. I had been a bit hesitant to give her the coordinates, but in the end, she got them and promised that she would never tell them to anybody.

"So . . . what was the Ginyu Force like? Were they always so weird?" Krillin asked.

Vegeta and I laughed. "Yeah," Vegeta replied. "They were actually grouped together because they were too weird alone, and no one wanted to put up them."

"Are we almost there?" Gohan asked, antsy. We'd been in the air for almost three hours.

I shrugged. "Almost." And I wasn't lying. We'd be on the shores of Eagle Lake in less than fifteen minutes.

We lapsed into yet another silence. They were so frequent that they didn't faze me anymore. As it dragged on, I got a moment to collect my chaotic thoughts. As I stared at the extensive forest under me, I tried to get a grasp on the thoughts that were bouncing in my head like a bouncy ball that kept hitting the wall. Bam. Vegeta. Bam. Kakarot. Bam. Frieza. Bam. Ginyu. Bam. Safe house.

"Hey, is that Eagle Lake?" Goku asked, bringing me out of my very chaotic mind.

I looked out and saw a very large, shiny lake glittering in the sun. I smiled, and remembered all of times we swam in that lake. "Yup, that's it."

A minute later, we were on the shore, and a small cottage sat in a large clearing in front of the shore. A small garage sat next to it.

"Okay, I'm not sure what condition it's in, so be prepared for anything," I cautioned, as I fished the key out of my pocket. I unlocked the door, and it opened with an ear-spitting groan. That was going to be one of many problems we were going to have to fix.

I stepped into the safe house, and the others followed at a distance. We were in the kitchen that connected to the living room, with its floor-to-ceiling mirrors that faced the lake, the ancient TV, and the worn-out couches. Even with all the dust and dead bugs, it was the same old safe house.

I heard Krillin sniffing behind me. "What is that?"

I suddenly noticed the smell. It was a very disgusting mix of rotting meat and sulfur. I suddenly remembered when_zhungensi_ rots, it starts to smell really, really bad. "Rotting fruit," I replied.

"But why . . .?" Tien faltered.

I smiled to myself. "I'll throw them out later." I turned to the others. "But first, we've got training to do."

Pretty much everyone groaned. The only exceptions are Vegeta (who just smiled eagerly) and Gohan (who had an amused look on his face for some reason).

"Okay, yeah, I know we've been training a lot lately, but this time, it's going to be a total free-for-all."

Krillin blinked. "Free-for-all?" he echoes.

I nodded. If he wasn't a human, I wouldn't have to explain every single fucking thing I say. "It just means you can use any techniques, moves, anything up your sleeve. Just get your training gear on, and meet me on the beach."

I walked out the door and didn't look back. I was wearing a designer leather jacket, vintage Beatles t-shirt, and a pair of worn out skinny jeans. I was sort of sad about getting these things dirty, wet and/or ripped.

I could hear the others getting ready, so I jumped into the lake and hid down deep in the water where no one could hear or see me. I could stay down here for a very long time, since I can hold my breath for quite a long time. The strange thing about Atakians is that our bodies are highly pressurized, and it creates a vacuum for the air inside us. So, if I have enough oxygenated blood in my veins, I don't have to breathe. That's how we can survive in deep space without exploding.

Back on the beach, the others were very confused.

"Where is she?" Krillin asked. From where I am, his voice was slightly garbled, mainly because I was under a good twenty feet of water.

"Be on guard," Vegeta warned, "because she could be anywhere. And in any form."

I counted to thirty. And when I finally got to the last number, I rocketed out of the water, startling the others. A big grin stretched across my face, and to the others, I looked almost exactly like my father.

"Don't you guys know what a free-for-all is?" I taunted.

They didn't respond out loud, but instead, they attacked me all at once.

As I dodged their numerous attacks, I wondered if they even _knew_ what a free-for-all means. I doubt it.

"Seriously, you guys are really getting on my nerves," I said between dodging.

Goku smiled. "Oh, really?" Sarcasm dripped from his voice. And from the way he said it, I could still see he hadn't got over the whole my-dad-is-Frieza idea. Well, it's only been about two days.

I blocked a punch from Tien, and decided to call it quits because they were definitely not getting the idea. "Okay, okay. Just stop whatever you're doing and look at me."

Everyone paused.

"What I mean is that it's every man for himself." I explained. _Or for herself_, I added silently.

I think they were finally getting it. "Ohhhh, that makes sense," Krillin murmured.

"Okay, now that you finally get it, we can start fighting in earnest," I said, a sly smile slowly widening on my face.

The next fifteen minutes were total chaos. I just kept fighting whoever was close enough to hit. As I moved from the air to the ground to the water, I kept changing forms whenever I can. Saiyan, Namekian, Atakian; it went on and on. After a few minutes, I could feel myself starting to lose my composure and my power level started spiking erratically. At its highest, it went to 1,438,881. Yeah, it was _over_ one million.

For the first time in what felt like a long time, I felt exhilarated. It has been at least four Atakian years since I've fought for the pure fun of it.

"Uhhh . . . what are you guys doing?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at Bulma, who has just arrived. I didn't know where the others were, but I had Vegeta pinned under my foot. Vegeta was in Super Saiyan form, and I was in my warrior form, with two large, very sharp horns sticking out from under my hair.

I was the first to reply. "Free-for-all."

"Okay then . . ." Bulma murmured.

I smiled and lifted my foot off of Vegeta. "Trust me, you would've been creeped out even more if the Ginyu Force was here," I shook out my hair out and the warrior form faded with the motion.

"Like what?" Gohan asked.

I walked around the backdoor of the cottage. A few feet away from the back door, I finally noticed a very large dip in the ground.

"Come over here," I announced, beckoning the others over.

"What is it?" Krillin asked, limping next to me.

I tried to not laugh, but a quick chuckle escaped anyways. "Doesn't it look like a huge, blown up snow angel?"

Tien cocked his head to the side, all three of his eyes squinting. "Now that I look it, it kinda does."

Vegeta glanced at me. "Is this—?"

I cut him off rudely. "Don't say anything." I glared at him, and he stuck his tongue out at me in reply. Sometimes he could be so childish.

"Okay, here's the story," I said. "When we were here, it snowed. There was barely an inch on the ground when Recoome ran outside at full speed and started to make a snow angel. He'd never seen snow in his life. And since he was so big, he left a Recoome-shaped snow angel in the ground."

Goku laughed loudly. It sounded genuine, but I couldn't be sure with him. "That must've been funny."

"Oh, it was." I glanced back at the others, and gestured to the house. "After we settle a few things, I think we can watch some of the videos I filmed here." One day, we set up a makeshift green screen and with my editing skills we created a whole shitload of videos.

We walked back into the cottage. I could tell that the others were tired, sore, and hungry. I hoped Goku still has some senzu beans left. If not, we were in for a very sleepless night.

"So, the first thing we need to do is to figure out where you guys are going to sleep," I said. "Gladly, there are fifteen rooms here."

"Fifteen?" Bulma asked.

"Yeah, you heard me. But anyways, there are two down here, ten upstairs, and three downstairs. You have the pick of whatever room you want, but please don't try to open any locked doors. Those were the ones that the Ginyu Force used. So, now, you get to decide. Have fun."

Goku, Krillin, and Tien walked upstairs. Vegeta and Gohan headed downstairs. Only Bulma and I remained.

I sighed. "Well . . . this is going to be interesting."

Bulma chuckled. "I don't know how we're going to feed all of them. It's not cheap buying food for five men. Just three Saiyans alone will break the bank."

I smiled. "Yeah, Saiyans can have quite the appetite." I walked over to the kitchen, and started to go through the cabinets, seeing what was edible enough to eat.

"Well, here's something," Bulma said, opening up a cabinet. It was loaded to the brim with instant Raman noodles. Raman noodles were cheap, and lasted a long time.

"That could make a decent meal," I muttered, and opened up another cabinet. In it was the rotting _zhungensi_ we'd smelled earlier. It was a disgusting shade of grayish-green, and had some type of weird fur stuff on it. The smell of the _zhungensi_ intensified, so much that it was overpowering.

"Ew," Bulma said, wrinkling her nose.

"I'll throw them out." I did that and returned to searching the cabinets. After another five minutes of fairly successful hunting, the others came into the kitchen.

"What 'cha doing?" Krillin asked. He leaned his elbows on the cheap linoleum counter that separated the kitchen from the miniscule dining room. God, I needed to fix this place up.

I shrugged. "Finding something to eat."

The others perked up. With them, it was all fighting, eating, and resting. Fight, eat, rest, repeat. It's a vicious cycle. "Don't get your hopes up. It's instant Raman noodles." A few of them groaned in reply. "What did you expect?" I asked. "A five-star meal?"

Bulma and I shooed them away and got down to business. It was going all good until the stove wouldn't start up.

"Stupid thing," I growled. I tried a few more times, but it still wouldn't start up. We couldn't make Raman noodles without boiling water, so I decided to spark it myself.

Okay, I need to tell you people something. Each Atakian has certain abilities, and no two Atakians have the same abilities. For example, I can create energy (no duh), sense energy and auras, communicate with spirits, do a bit of telekinesis, and control fire. Even with all these amazing powers, new ones were constantly popping up. Some were permanent, others coming and going. But the weird thing was that in the past month or so, these powers were coming like mad.

I created a small flame above my hand and coaxed it to the burner. It lit, but in a very explosive way. There must've been gas in the air already, and it ignited violently. A pillar of fire that could've passed for the fires of Hell came inches from my face.

After it happened, I blinked and stood up straight. "If I had eyebrows, they'd be toast," I muttered.

"Are you okay?" The others rushed over. I was suddenly surrounded and the air inside my lungs felt trapped; I usually wasn't claustrophobic, but in that moment, I was.

I coughed. "Yeah, I'm fine." I brushed back my hair, and a few singed hairs fell out. Rotting_ zhungensi_ plus singed hair equaled a really bad smell.

Bulma coughed as well, fanning the air around her. "Well, at least the stove is working."

As we got down to business, I smiled and thought, _let's just hope that this isn't as bad as last time_. I looked out at the others and smiled even wider. _Oh, yeah, it's going to be a lot better_.


End file.
